Platelet-mimicking supramolecular nanomedicine with precisely integrated prodrugs for cascade amplification of synergistic chemotherapy

• Published in: Journal of controlled release 2023-08, Vol.360, p.82-92
• Main Authors: Ding, Yuan-Fu, Wang, Ziyi, Kwong, Cheryl H.T., Zhao, Yonghua, Mok, Greta S.P., Yu, Hua-Zhong, Wang, Ruibing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemotherapy; Host–guest interactions; Platelet mimicking; Prodrugs; Vascular disruption
• ISSN: 0168-3659; 1873-4995
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2023.06.015

Camptothecin (CPT) and cisplatin (Pt) have shown synergistic effects on a variety of cancers during preclinical and clinical studies. However, the ratio of the two drugs often could not be precisely regulated in different delivery systems, which hinders the desired synergistic effect. In addition, the low delivery efficiency of the two drugs to the tumor further impedes the ideal therapeutic outcomes. Herein, we report that a platelet-mimicking supramolecular nanomedicine (SN) could precisely control of the ratio of CPT and Pt with a high tumor accumulation rate for cascade amplification of synergistic chemotherapy. The SN was fabricated via the host–guest interaction between cucurbit[7]uril conjugated hyaluronic acid (HA-CB[7]) and adamantane (ADA) respectively functionalized CPT- and Pt-based prodrugs. The ratio of CPT and Pt in the SN could be facilely regulated by simply controlling the loading ratio, based on the strong binding affinity between CB[7] and ADA, and SN60 with 60% CPT and 40% Pt showed the highest synergistic effects on 4T1 cells. To improve the tumor accumulation efficiency of SN, 5,6-dimethylxanthenone-4-acetic acid (DMXAA, a tumor vasculature-disruptive agent) was loaded into the optimized SN and then coated with platelet membrane to yield platelet-mimicking supramolecular nanomedicine (D@SN-P). D@SN-P could first passively accumulate in tumors owing to the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect after intravenous administration. The initially release of DMXAA from D@SN-P could induce tumor vascular disruption, and the resultant epithelial collagen exposure around the disrupted tumor vasculature provided a target for further recruitment of platelet-mimicking SN, leading to cascade amplification of tumor accumulation with synergistic chemotherapy. Hence, this platelet-mimicking supramolecular nanomedicine presents a universal supramolecular strategy to finely regulate the ratio of loaded pro-drugs, and improve the accumulation efficiency to amplify chemotherapy via platelet-mimics. This work developed a platelet-mimicking supramolecular nanomedicine (D@SN-P) with a precisely regulated prodrugs for cascade amplification of synergistic chemotherapy. The resultant D@SN-P possessed an optimized ratio of ADA conjugated CPT- and Pt-based prodrugs via facile host–guest complexation between CB[7] and ADA to maximize the synergistic chemotherapy. D@SN-P could passively accumulate in tumors owing to the enhanced permeability and retentio